Imaging devices with automatic focusing have conventionally adjusted the focusing degree of a focusing lens on the basis of an object captured in a focus evaluation area defined in a central portion of the image screen.
The conventional devices fix a focus evaluation area in a central portion of the image screen, so that the focusing lens focuses the background or foreground within the focus evaluation area when the object moves toward an edge of the screen out of the focus evaluation area. In this condition the operator cannot focus a main object so the main object is pictured as a blurry image.
Several methods have been proposed to overcome such shortcoming. An operator may sometimes use a joystick for specifying a main object the operator intends to focus, or an eye point of an operator is sometimes detected to automatically track a main object. These methods require provision of additional hardware for object tracking.